Personal Bests

A Look Back.

Today was a working outside-the-house kind of day. We had a special mission in mind, so we headed up to one of our favorite DC spots – Georgetown! I’m not sure why everyone always says Georgetown is so unwalkable to a Metro stop – I don’t really think the walk to Rosslyn is all that bad! We made our way across the Key bridge – it was windy, dreary, and very grey.

This is what I look like when I am really, really cold.

Our morning mission was to get new winter coats – we decided it would be our (early) Christmas present to each other! With our new walk-heavy lifestyle, we are outside a LOT, no matter what the temperature. We’re also not used to living near water, where it is always windier and colder. We both had our eye on some specific North Face coats, but I didn’t end up liking mine quite as much in person. And for how expensive it was, I didn’t want to buy it without feeling true retail love. But lucky Casey had a lot of success!

If I don’t end up finding a new coat, I am kind of hoping that this ends up under the Christmas tree. :) Georgetown looked so pretty all dressed up for the holidays.

We made our way down to Barnes and Noble’s fun café, where we spent the afternoon working at the counter. While we sat in front of the window, it started SNOWING for the first time here in DC! I absolutely love snow, as long as I don’t have to drive in it.

After a few solid hours of productive work, we were both starving and ready for a break. While I waited for Casey to pack up, I did what I always do in bookstores – went in search of books written by friends. Found this Operation Beautiful book totally rocking out with all the big dogs on the face-out end cap display!

Before we left, I did a quick search on one of my favorite local websites – VegDC – a comprehensive list of all the vegetarian and vegetarian-friendly places in the city, grouped by neighborhood. We ended up at Harmony Café, a little hole in the wall Asian place that was down a creepy staircase in the basement of a house.

The décor was also quite interesting…

But the food was wonderful! We were both starving, so we started with vegetable lettuce wraps…

And for our main meals, Casey got a mixed vegetable and tofu dish with brown sauce…

While I enjoyed a beautiful eggplant and mixed vegetable tofu dish with garlic sauce. YUM!

We both cleaned our plates. The best part? Our total bill for the entire meal was $19. When you don’t drink and don’t eat meat, going out to eat is SO cheap!

Afterwards, we walked off our lunch by heading back across the bridge. And just like that, we were home again…

It was fun to spend the day working up in the city – definitely something we should make a point to do more often.

And now I’m off to go make ten million cookies for the DC blogger/reader cookie swap on Sunday – I am so excited! I have realized recently that I really need to make more friends here in our new hometown. It’s hard when all your friends are either hundreds of miles away or online. Sometimes you just need someone to go shopping with, you know? New cities can be tough. Hopefully I can lure in some new friends with carrot macaroons… :)

I just realized how pathetic that sounded, particularly as I post this at 9pm on a Friday night. Oooooh well, you guys already knew I wasn’t cool. :) Happy weekend to you ALL!

You might want to try REI (there is one off Route 7 not far from Old Town). You can return ANYTHING, even if it’s been used.

I bought a new ski coat there recently and I expressed concern to the sales person that it might not be as warm as I wanted it to be. She said if I take the coat skiing in January and don’t think it’s warm enough, just return before my second trip in February for something else. If you join their gear rewards ($25 maybe? lifetime membership), you don’t even need a receipt, because the member program tracks your purchases.

You could go get that coat and if you don’t love it after wearing awhile, you can return it!

I LOVE this policy, just because with outdoor gear, sometimes it’s really hard to tell how things will perform for you till you get out there (ie running shorts that are awesome in the store and chaff like HELL when you run more than a few miles in them!).

The weather was awfully frightful today, but thankfully, not as windy as the first part of the week. My husband and I were out running on the Mt. Vernon Trail when the flurries started to come down.
We also ran through Old Town and I just can’t get over how charming it is. The homes on Union St are decorated so nicely for Christmas.

I think you’re cool, and I would totally hang out with you if I lived closer. And, you would cook for me, right? Right? :)
I got my winter coat from Land’s End. They have great coats and since I live near Buffalo I can vouch for their warmth factor!

HI! I just recently found your blog, and live right near Georgetown- I moved to D.C. a little less than a year ago! I still don’t know too many folks either, so feel free to let me know when you’re in the area (or want to be) again! :)

Hey Emily!
BRR, I jogged through some snowflakes myself this AM. :) I am so bummed I am going to miss your meet-up on Sunday, but I will be out of town for the day. However, I will happily be your shopping buddy in DC. I’d love to get together for coffee or something soon. Let’s connect soon.
Lani

Nothing wrong with a Friday night in, especially after you spent all day hanging out in Georgetown. So looking forward to the cookie swap, and I’m hopeful about my newest take on vegan truffles – these guys are gingerbread-spiced.

Landsend does have nice coats. I have also had great luck with the Ross off of king btw columbus? and washington. I got a London Fog trench there last year and (not coat related) a nice knife last week.

I am sad I am missing the blogger meetup. Have fun and hope for clear skies Sunday, I’m running the jingle all the way 10k!

I just have to say again how happy I am to have found your blog. I teared up reading your post today missing my old haunts and remembering all of the wonderful times I had with my husband and kids when we lived there. Time to move back I think! :)

First, I love your blog and read it every day. Second, skip The North Face and buy a Patagonia parka like the Fiona. Maybe you have a position on down jackets, but The North Face is just over priced junk. I live in Alaska and have gone through the brands. Not only does Patagonia make a warm jacket, but it is stylish (as much as a winter coat can be), warm, and will last forever. The Patagonia return policy is great, as well.

Okay. Too much talk about gear. Thanks for sharing so much about your life and healthy eating. I love your blog!!

Looks like a perfect day! I agree with you about needing friends. My boyfriend and I moved to a new town and it is so easy to just hang out with eachother all of the time. But I recently made some friends and it feels so great to have some in person girl talk!

Pacers Old Town is having a Christmas Light Run on Wednesday at 7. I’ll be out there with some friends if your leg is up to it. There should be many paces, and their running group is delightful and a great way to meet people. (I met my Old Town running crew through them!)

I love VegDC. Such a great resource. I wish I could go to the cookie swap, but it’s finals week and I don’t even have a kitchen to bake in, and I don’t think bringing Newman’s Own cookies would be quite the same. Have a great time though!

lol, I’m such a homebody I never feel like I’m that cool. A great Friday night to me is exactly what I did last night. Hung out on the couch and watched the first disc of Daria that I got from netflix. :)

I had to buy a new coat this year. I actually bought two and returned them before finding THE ONE. I’m so picky.

Question: I made your black bean burgers this week and they were delicious, but have you ever frozen them? I don’t think we are going to have time to finish the leftovers this weekend and I was thinking about popping them in the freezer for later.

Maybe you just removed it for photo purposes, but Casey has the right idea — for warmth, nothing beats wearing a hat! After years of walking around the Midwest bareheaded and cold, I’m glad my husband talked me out of my vanity ;)

Forgive my complete ignorance of American geography but I always thought that Georgetown was part of DC but it looks like you walked out of the city (and state) to go there? Confuuuused. I’m off to google this now. My Canadian education seems to have left out this important information :)

i completely agree with you about complete retail love for an expensive item. i also try to keep in mind how long such a well-made coat will last and then i do a division problem — cost of coat divided by years i will have and wear — if only we could pay for it in that way. i would recommend checking out patagonia. while i also think the north face is great for many things, the warranty is better at patagonia — they will repair or replace anything that goes wrong (even a fifteen-year-old bag that had fallen apart — ta dah — brand new bag — for amount we had paid for the original one). north face will repair, and that’s guaranteed, but then you have to send it back, take a bunch of time, etc.

also find out when the BIG patagonia sales are. i believe there are two annually, and they mark things way down (40-50% off on some items). they send you postcards about the sales if you are on their mailing list, perhaps for your local store. they also do sales online. most of my patagonia stuff came from the sales.

Glad you’re enjoying all the DC area has to offer. My husband and I live in Alexandria and are always looking for like-minded vegetarian/non-drinker friends. You should hang out with us next time we have one of our veg potlucks!

See if you can wait until after Christmas and shop the sales then. I did that when I moved to Chicago last December and bought a new winter jacket from Eddie Bauer. I think this is the current year version of what I bought http://tinyurl.com/38f8zlg It doesn’t come in the fun colors like The North Face, but it’s still super warm. By the way, don’t worry about being dorky on a Friday night, I was weather-stripping our windows last night. And I’d be totally won over by cookies if I lived in DC.

I think you’re one of the coolest people I know! And I would definitely go shopping with you anytime you pleased :) In fact, I think that might be an appropriate way for us to catch up with each other since you never know what the evenings will be like for a walk. Hope your weekend is going well. Enjoy the cookie swap tomorrow! :)

It looks like you and Casey had a great day! I’m just like you about snow. I love it when I can just stay cozy and not have to drive. I need to move to a more walkable place once I’m done with school, I think!

I lived in DC for a while and there is this AMAZING pizza place both in dupont circle and georgetown called “Pizza Paradiso” they have homemade whole wheat dough and they are a micro brewery too…buffalo mozzarella…really amazing! You should go!

Hey! I just wanted to mention that the walk from the GW-Foggy Bottom Metro Stop to Georgetown takes about 5 minutes in case you have an urge to go there on a day when you don’t want to walk across the bridge :)